Gangs Of Loudoun County

By Loudoun Insider

That really is what the political parties are here (and elsewhere of course). The prime function of the party is to get its own loyal members elected, and once elected, keep them in line and keep the spoils flowing to themselves and other loyal party members.

Selfless public servants just looking out for the public good??? Just a convenient talking point to throw out for public consumption. Any actions that go against their own interests are purely because they are more interested in political self preservation than anything else. Some sacrifices need to be made in order to keep the rest of the gravy train flowing.

Each party has its enforcers as well – the cretins who attack those who get out of line or pose threats to their party members. The LCRC cretins are pretty well known, but the LCDC has its share as well – just look at how they treated Stevens Miller and his wife for Stevens daring to not support their ridiculous redistricting plan that got them completely crushed.

Both local parties stink. We need more true Independents if we are ever to break the cycle of incompetence and malfeasance.

Ok. I understand your point and certainly won’t dispute that there is ample evidence to support it. I believe you paint with too broad a brush though. Although frustration with the current state of affairs may make that understandable.

Like Git er right, I too have known many excellent public servants. People who, while obviously interested in getting re-elected, believe in something and work hard to solve problems and improve their communities and the lives of their fellow citizens.

There is grave danger in excessive cynicism. It tends to cause people to check out of participating in the system which cedes the field to those who want to bend the system to their own self interest at the expense of the country. That’s why I always encourage young people to get involved even if they hold views different from my own. If enough good people get involved, even if they adopt policies that i disagree with in the short run, I know that in the long run my grandchildren will live in a country with the same strong democratic institutions that I grew up in.

On a political note, I strongly disagree with your assessment that what we need is more independents. First of all, most of the people who identify as independents actually lean pretty strongly toward one party or the other. But more importantly it is the weakening of political parties that has opened the door even wider for those with enough money to buy an outsized influence to dominate public policy to their own advantage to the detriment of the general public. Strong political parties would, I believe, be agents of sounder public policy. The weakness of the political parties we see today is one of the causes of our problems.

If strong national and state party structures existed it is far less likely that the local units of both parties in a county as important as Loudoun would be so pathetic. And if they weren’t so pathetic they could be a force for better public policy.

I’m not knocking independents. I’m just saying that the parties have an important role that they can (and should) be playing. And that we are all worse off because they are not doing so.

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, the answer is to put on your hip boots and wade into the river of shit you see and make something good happen. And bring along some friends because it is a huge job that needs to be done.

You know what is lazy and ignorant? Sitting back and keeping your mouth shut about a huckster like Eugene Delgaudio just because he is a member of your gang, excuse me, your “party”. Has there been any criticism of him at all by any Republican??? They’re all too scared to say anything.

Of course there are some altruistic pubic servants, but they are a minority.

Yeah, the problem is that those people tend to arrive in office with a servant’s heart full of good intentions, then they actually take a look around and either a.) decide to leave the cesspool after a short stint or b.) become part of the problem.

Or they stay in and beat their heads against the stone wall — again, and again, and again. But somehow still manage to get something worthwhile done.

This county has had representatives from both parties as well as independents who have been good public servants, not in it for themselves but for the good of the county. You may or may not have agreed with their philosophy (I sure didn’t), but they nevertheless, had good intentions.

And we’ve also had our share of absolutely dreadful ones as well, again across the political spectrum.

This last election gave us some at both extreme — a couple who have the potential to be excellent public servants and others who already are showing themselves to be among those who history will classify as dreadful. That’s the way it goes.

But we have to keep trying, whatever our various philosophies may be, to get the very best people to run, with the hope that the voters will have the choice, not between bad and worse, but between two (or more) candidates all of whom would be excellent choices. Now THAT is my hope for the future!

Much, often most, local issues have nothing to do with the partisan issues at the national or even state level: how to pay for schools, public services, what services to support, what zoning to endorse, what kinds of economic development to pursue and how, what land and water to protect and how. If, as happened last year, the national parties — in our case the Republican National Committee most decidedly and successfully — sees Loudoun’s local election as key to winning in national and state elections doesn’t it distort the campaigns, and the results?

An independent party in Loudoun makes lots of sense if only to strike a better balance in local elections, leaving state and national elections alone. My sense is that it would appeal to most voters here. The LCRC and LCDC could, and should continue to advocate their causes, but we’d have a third rail.

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